Fox's The Mob Doctorpremiered to just a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating last night. It's not long for this world. It may not survive until the cancellation bear makes his first post of the season on October 2.

"Luckily" for Fox, they've got Touch currently slotted to premiere on Friday (October 26), and presumably it has plenty of episodes already "in the can" for a Fall start, so taking The Mob Doctor off Monday and putting Touch in is the easy move.

But when will that happen?

I'll let the focused schedule jockeys provide handicapping tips in the comments, because Fox's Fall schedule has so many quirks with the baseball playoffs and the election, I can't keep up with it.

Whether The Mob Doctor gets moved to a Friday burn off, or off the schedule entirely is another topic you may wish to cover in your comments.

Update: While there was no presidential election in 2010, after Lone Star "Lonestar'd" its premiere ratings, the series premiere of Lie To Me replaced it on October 4, after two episodes.

@RickyThe only trouble with TMD being benched in favor of Touch is…where do they intend to put The Following?

Mondays at 9pm starting in January or February.

Why would they have to change that?

sara

Mob Doctor was pushed big during the Sunday football games.

By putting a medical show on in the same time spot as House Fox alienated
House fans who are the ones who like medical shows.

Touch could be used as a quick replacement but it isn’t the solution. Fox firing its programming staff and getting in people who understand fans and what makes people follow a show is their biggest hope.

If Touch takes off, they can always put either it or The Following on Thursdays at 9pm and move Glee to Wednesdays at 9pm (with a hiatus in March once Idol goes live).

Remember, they did have something planned in the event that The Mob Doctor got a back nine. I guarantee that something didn’t involve exiling their best drama pilot to Fridays.

Ricky

And before I forget: TMD has now become the latest victim of negative publicity from this site and others. Just like Missing and Awake last season, so many people predicted it would bomb. So many people were right. How shockingly prescient.

Ultima

@RickyTMD has now become the latest victim of negative publicity from this site

TVbytheNumbers killed it! My favorite tile on Fan Excuse Bingo!

RG-X

FOX will wait at least after the World Series and it’s interuppted month before putting Touch On – which will still not do well against The Voice either.

http://tvbythenumbers.com Bill Gorman

“TVbytheNumbers killed it! My favorite tile on Fan Excuse Bingo! “

Indeed. That goes in the center square, regardless of the voting results.

What, you thought this was a democracy?

Tom

@Ricky: “TMD has now become the latest victim of negative publicity from this site”

Yeah, remember when a large contingent voted OUAT as the first show canceled last year? We killed that show in two episodes!

…or a number of people here are good, but by no means perfect, at guessing what the mass market wants, and most of our apparent long shots end up being actual long shots.

Ricky

@Ultima: Once it becomes official, it’ll be my favorite too.

@Tom: Yes, I know OUAT was written off far and wide, but I brought up examples that were written off, premiered poorly, and died two months later. If you have any other counter-examples, let me know.

Just hope RVN doesn’t tumble to CW levels and join TMD on the list of TVBTN victims!

Ultima

@RickyIf you have any other counter-examples, let me know.

Scandal.

Whitney had a decent premiere (in the best spot on NBC’s schedule), quickly dropped and is still around.

Also, The Firm took over six months to die!

Ultima

Also, similar to Once Upon a Time, most everyone was predicting Hotel Hell DOA after its premiere was pushed back from early April to late May to August. Then it ends up being the top new show of the summer.

Nick

November 5th.

Touch probably isn’t ready yet to go on the air. At the most, maybe 2-3 weeks before its original air date, but by then they’ll only be a couple of episodes until it has to be preempted by The World Series. It has to be after the series ends (11/1).

I think the Fox will let all the episodes of TMD that have been produced air (a la Charlie’s Angels), which is probably 3 or 4. Then they’ll air repeats for 2 or so weeks, then baseball, then Touch.

BH @ TV Recaps/Reviews

FOX is going to have one hell of a fall. Bones will hover around 1.8 and 2.3. The Mob Doctor will last a few weeks as a placeholder. The X Factor is down this year (but it could go back up once the live shows start). Glee will struggle to hit a 3.0 – if that. Fringe’s ratings are terrible but they don’t matter since it’s the final season. Touch could breakout out since it went through a creative overhaul between seasons but it’s uncertain if audiences will return to it. The only possible upside will be the Tuesday night comedies and even those are questionable. The network desperately needs a new hit drama. FOX has a great show with The Following but that will be staying at midseason no matter what so the network will be struggling until then.

Ultima

@NickTouch probably isn’t ready yet to go on the air. At the most, maybe 2-3 weeks before its original air date, but by then they’ll only be a couple of episodes until it has to be preempted by The World Series. It has to be after the series ends (11/1).

I think the Fox will let all the episodes of TMD that have been produced air (a la Charlie’s Angels), which is probably 3 or 4. Then they’ll air repeats for 2 or so weeks, then baseball, then Touch.

FOX has the NLCS on 15 October and either the NLCS or the debate on 22 October in addition to the World Series.

Ricky

@Ultima: Thank you very much. Of course, the (scripted) shows you mention (excluding The Firm, natch) are all going into sophomore seasons in less-than-ideal timeslots, so…delayed reactions to the TVBTN death rays?

Maybe Touch could end up joining a separate list of hated shows that got axed in their second seasons. The queen of this list being, of course, Harry’s Law.

Nick

@Ultima

Even better.

Nick

@Ricky

Thank you very much. Of course, the (scripted) shows you mention (excluding The Firm, natch) are all going into sophomore seasons in less-than-ideal timeslots, so…delayed reactions to the TVBTN death rays?

Scandal was mentioned. How is the post-Grey’s Anatomy slot “less-than-ideal”?

Nick

@Ricky

Maybe Touch could end up joining a separate list of hated shows that got axed in their second seasons. The queen of this list being, of course, Harry’s Law.

Explain to me how Touch and/or Harry’s Law are hated?

Michael

The problem is, the episode of Touch that aired last Friday got a .7. I don’t see Touch getting higher than a 1.1 if it aired on Monday.